


the after

by mintandmarmalade



Category: Kagerou Project
Genre: Family, Gen, Healing, Post-Heat Haze, first names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27751198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintandmarmalade/pseuds/mintandmarmalade
Summary: When Tsubomi misspeaks, she, Seto, and Kano realize that the surplus of boxes isn’t the only thing in their new apartment that they have to unpack.
Relationships: Kano Shuuya & Kido Tsubomi & Seto Kousuke
Comments: 11
Kudos: 23





	the after

**Author's Note:**

> all i have to say for myself is i needed something to write as a cooldown and i love them :) 
> 
> also, i know this comes up in the conversation a lot, so just as a preface i don’t ship any of these characters and see their relationships as entirely familial and platonic!

Tsubomi doesn’t remember how many times she died, but her bones do. It’s a feeling that lingers even as September starts to creep by; a sense of heaviness in her gut, a dull ache in her skull or an itch in her skin. Every morning, she sees that the sun has risen, and every time, she gets the feeling that she isn’t appreciating it the way she should. Days are going by, now. Her bones ache with a feeling of relief that she doesn’t understand all the way. 

But as she rolls over in bed and pulls her blanket tighter around her, she realizes it’s getting cooler. She stretches, and her bones say  _ thank you.  _ That’s two things, at least, that she can appreciate. 

Early-August Dan leader Tsubomi and present-day morning-breath Tsubomi may well be two different people, but she still can’t stand the thought of wasting any more time in bed. Getting to the bathroom is an obstacle course, as always. For a brief moment, as she’s trying to map out a path through the mess of boxes between her and the door, Tsubomi entertains the thought of finally unpacking so her new bedroom won’t feel like a dump anymore, but it leaves her mind about as soon as it enters. Those boxes are a miss-matched jumble of stuff packed up from the base and rescued from her long-dormant room at the Tateyama house. There’s even a few things she’s held onto from her mom’s apartment or the Kido estate in the mix. 

Other than the boxes, her room here is white and spotless. It’s not what she was imagining, but it feels nicer this way. A fresh start. 

Tsubomi rushes through her morning routine and makes it to the kitchen before it’s even all the way light out. At the table, Seto sits slouched over a cup of coffee, looking exhausted but effortfully sipping at it - a remnant of life at the base. Dan members don’t sleep in. Tsubomi kicked that message into his head enough times that it’ll probably stick for life. 

“G’morning,” he says, with a yawn that scrunches his entire face shut. 

“Morning,” Tsubomi replies. As she passes by, she stares warily at the pile of mail cluttering the table. All junk, and all addressed to the last owner. It’s been taking up space since they moved in, and the pile grows every couple of days, but Seto thought they should forward it and Tsubomi thought they should shred it and Kano thought they should read it over a cup of tea so they ended up leaving it there, where it will probably grow to consume the entire kitchen and, eventually, decompose. 

“What’s on the agenda for today?” Seto asks from behind her.

“For right now, just eggs,” Tsubomi says. Now that she doesn’t have to worry about cooking food that matches nine people’s tastes and only has to please herself, breakfast finally feels low-stakes. That’s another change she’ll graciously accept. The nice frying pan is lying on the drying rack - easy - but her favorite spatula is nowhere to be seen. 

When she opens the drawer and it’s still not there, she lets out a tired grunt. Dad had provided most of the kitchen gear, fussing over catalogues and researching appliances and hemming and hawing for weeks.  _ My kids are moving out on their own, _ he had said.  _ That’s a big step. For now, all you should worry about is going back to school and paying rent. I’ll handle the furnishing. _ It was his own attempt at making up for everything that had happened, Tsubomi knew, so she didn’t say anything, but she couldn’t bring herself to do more than thank him. He was trying, but how are you supposed to respond when someone’s apology is, “Hey, sorry I went crazy and tried to kill your whole family to get your mom back”? As if any amount of cheeky “Call me if you need someone to explain how to use a can opener!” post-it notes could make her feel comfortable calling him dad again. 

Not that she needs to be thinking about that right now. But he did spoil them. There’s so much stuff crammed in every drawer that some of them are impossible to open. Trying to find a specific utensil is a test of determination - one that Tsubomi has always succeeded at, so far, but for some reason this spatula really doesn’t want to show itself. Stubbornness is never a good quality - that was one of her mantras as leader - but there’s no way she’s flipping her eggs with one of the rubber things in the baking drawer. 

After three minutes of fruitless searching, though, she’d happily snap one of them in half. It’s not a  _ big  _ apartment. You’d expect it to be easier to find something as simple as a spatula.

“Kousuke, have you seen the good spatula,” Tsubomi asks, while most of her attention is focused on giving the top drawer one last chance at redemption. Nothing. When she closes it, she returns to reality enough to realize that Seto didn’t answer. Strange, but maybe he was too tired to process. 

Tsubomi turns around to remind him that  _ being tired is never an excuse  _ was another Dan leader mantra, but finds him standing up and staring at her with huge, wet eyes. 

“What?” she asks. That’s never a good sign. Did something she said set him off, or- 

“Tsubomi!” he cries, pulling her into the tightest bear hug she’s ever felt, and that’s when she connects the dots. It’s been years, now, since anyone’s called her that - since her  _ brother  _ has called her by her  _ name. _ It sounds crazy, but  _ Kousuke  _ slipped out of her like it had been in her subconscious the whole time. 

Pushed up against Seto like this, Tsubomi only reaches up to his collar bone. He’s not much of a crybaby these days. She hasn’t seen him like this since they were kids. It feels strange how much taller he is than her.

“Hey,” she says, pushing away, because she can’t just let him stand here and cry. “Did you hate the codenames that much?” 

“It’s not that.” With a laugh, he wipes at his eyes. “It just made me realize we don’t have to use them anymore.” 

He goes back in for a second hug, and since he’s stopped crying, she lets him, even patting him on the back. So this is a two-hug revelation to him, huh. Tsubomi definitely thought the nicknames were cool, and she still sort of does now. But there’s a sort of comfort in it. Knowing they don’t need them anymore. 

Right as she’s about to get blurry-eyed herself, the door to the bedroom right off the kitchen swings open, and out steps Kano. He’s wearing an old Power Rangers shirt that definitely belonged to Seto at one point, considering the way he’s drowning in it, and his hair looks messier than usual. But the bags under his eyes are gone, and as he steps into the kitchen, he lets his shoulders slumped. He looks relaxed. 

“What’s all this noise about? Some of us like to get our beauty sleep,” he says with a yawn, and a showy one at that, eyes scrunched shut and arms stretched over his head. He’s paying so little attention to his surroundings (violation of Dan leader mantra number three) that when Seto tackles him with a hug, they both tumble to the ground. 

“Shuuya!”

_ “Ow,” _ Kano yells, muffled by Seto’s shoulder over his mouth. “What’s up? You’re not eight anymore, you know.” 

“Sorry,” Seto rolls off of him and sits up. When he sees the way Kano’s rubbing at his arm, he gives it an apologetic pat. “Ki- Tsubomi called me by my first name a minute ago, and I realized we can start doing that again.” 

Kano cocks his head. “And? Is it that big of a deal?”

“It feels like it’s been a long time, right?” Seto says, raising his eyebrows. 

Kano just shrugs and, rising to his feet, dusts himself off. “Maybe, but it’s not like it’s anything new.” 

Tsubomi narrows her eyes at him. That’s a lot of confidence for a guy who cried when he realized they wouldn’t have to sleep in shifts anymore. 

“How are you taking this so easily,” she says. Instinctually, she goes to smack his arm, but he grabs her hand and pushes it away.

When he speaks again, his voice is surprisingly soft. “Hey. No way to hide anything anymore, remember?” 

A bad taste fills Tsubomi’s mouth. Since they were kids, she’s hit him enough that it’s become a reflex. She always knew where he came from. She just didn’t know any other way around it. 

But she can’t say that. To Seto, maybe, but speaking honestly about their feelings has never been a part of their relationship. 

“That just makes it harder to tell when you’re telling the truth,” she says instead. Her hand is still stretched out in front of her. He pushes it back. 

“Can your dear brother not just smile for real?” His smirk is exaggeratedly fake.  _ I’m joking, and you know it. Nothing to hide here.  _

Tsubomi keeps eye contact for two seconds, three, before making a fist and laying a (gentle) noogie into his head. If Seto’s getting taller, he’s getting shorter; he ducks out of it easily, and moseys over to the chair where Seto was sitting. 

Seto grabs his mug and sets it down in front of the next seat over. “Yeah, isn’t it a good thing? I think it’s nice that you’ve been smiling more.” 

“Tsubomi just hates my happiness, is all,” Kano sighs, leaning over on his arms over the table. Over his shoulder, on the countertop, Tsubomi spots the missing spatula. 

“Things are changing, huh,” she says. Kousuke nods and smiles up at her with the same bright eyes as usual, and Shuuya snorts as if to say  _ you think?  _

Tsubomi rolls up her sleeves and grabs three plates from the cabinet. They’ve got nothing more to worry about today. A family breakfast is in order. 

“How do you want your eggs?” 

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](https://01tsubomi.tumblr.com/) // [twitter](https://twitter.com/MesokiCovers)
> 
> i’ve thought abt that one mca scene w seto and kano every single day of my life since i was 14 (exaggeration) and now the thought of mekatrio starting to use each other’s first names again makes me want to cry. the way seto switches from kano to shuuya specifically when trying to comfort him- the way they use each other’s codenames every other time, even when talking to ayano’s grave, but when they need each other as family they switch back to first names...mekatrio matters a lot to me so when i got this idea at 3 a.m. the other night i really had no choice but to write it out 
> 
> thank you for reading! :)


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